Apple to investigate report of China iPhone electric shock death

Bloomberg

Bloomberg News

Updated 5:19 am, Monday, July 15, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FILE: Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new iPhone that was introduced at Macworld on January 9, 2007 in San Francisco, California. Jobs, 56, passed away October 5, 2011 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 and is credited, along with Steve Wozniak, with marketing the world's first personal computer in addition to the popular iPod, iPhone and iPad. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
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A Huawei Technologies Co. Ascend Mate smartphone, right, and an Apple Inc. iPhone 5 are arranged for a photograph at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. The 2013 CES trade show, which runs until Jan. 11, is the world's largest annual innovation event that offers an array of entrepreneur focused exhibits, events and conference sessions for technology entrepreneurs. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Apple Inc. (AAPL) said it will "fully investigate and cooperate with authorities" after media reports that a woman in China died after using an iPhone that was being recharged.

A 23-year-old flight attendant died on July 12 after picking up her iPhone 5 to answer a call, China's Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Internet reports. Xinhua cited a post by a user of Weibo microblogging service saying that the family "didn't ask for compensation from Apple, and that it only hopes people will pay attention, nothing more."

A press official at the Xinjiang provincial government, who only gave his surname as Gao, referred questions from Bloomberg News about the incident to local media reports. The phone was bought in December with items already handed over to police, Xinhua reported.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident and offer our condolences to the Ma family," Apple said in the e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News today.